With the overall strength of the world's women's soccer team steadily improved, the 21st announced the results of the Tokyo Olympics grouping, showing no obvious "on the sign" or "group of death" situation. Each group's top contenders are in suspense, the road to promotion is also full of challenges. China's women's soccer team in the Asian soccer world to strive to get the Olympic seat, will meet a more severe test.
In the third slot, our team was placed in Group F with European champions the Netherlands, soccer powerhouse Brazil and emerging force Zambia. Compared to Group E, where hosts Japan, traditional powerhouses Canada and Great Britain under the impetus of England's women's soccer team, or Group G, where Olympic gold medal-winning U.S. women's soccer team, runner-up Sweden and Asia's highest-ranked team Australia are located, Group F is also a collection of strong teams. As a result, there are no clear advantages or disadvantages for the 12 elite teams from each continent.
Facing three opponents, our women's soccer team will face Brazil for the first time in the second consecutive Olympic Games. In the Rio Olympics, facing the pressure of the host, our team was defeated by 0:3. From the perspective of historical results, our team is slightly disadvantaged. Coupled with the problem of "slow heat" that often occurs in the early rounds of a major competition, this group stage could be the toughest match of all.
Regardless of the outcome of the first match, our team is confident that Zambia, who are making their Olympic debut, will be able to win the three points from this crucial battle and be in the best shape to meet the strongest team in the group, the Netherlands.
The Dutch women's soccer team has made impressive strides in the most recent cycle.At the 2015 World Cup in Canada, our team had beaten their opponents with 60% possession and a 27:8 shot advantage, with players such as Wu Haiyan and Tang Jiali contributing. However, by the 2019 World Cup, the Netherlands were much stronger and ended up as runners-up.
On June 11, 2015, China's team captain Wu Haiyan (right) defends against Netherlands' player Miedema (center). On the same day, our team defeated the Netherlands 1-0 in the Group A group match of the 7th FIFA Women's World Cup at the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Canada. Xinhua News Agency reporter Ding Xu took photo
In this rematch, although the overall strength and record of our team is slightly inferior to that of the Netherlands, we have more experience in the Olympic Games and have a certain advantage psychologically.
According to the tournament system, the top two teams and the two best third-place finishers in each group will advance to the round of 8. Although the overall strength of our team is not as good as that of the Netherlands and Brazil, after two rounds of the Olympic Preliminary Round play-offs, the team's cohesion, tactical execution and psychological resistance to pressure have all been improved, and the group has become a strong goal for them to get out of the group.
Since winning the silver medal at the 1996 Olympics, China's women's soccer team has gone through a downturn, with the best record in recent Olympics being advancing to the top 8.
Against the backdrop of the rapid development of women's soccer in the world, our team has managed to qualify under the heavy pressure of the Olympic Qualifiers, and the continuity of participation in major competitions has allowed the players to experience and grow, which in itself is a great progress.
On April 13, players of our team celebrated their victory after the match. On the same day, in the second round of the Tokyo Olympics women's soccer Asian qualifying round playoffs held in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China's team drew 2-2 with South Korea through overtime, thus winning 4-3 on aggregate and advancing to the Tokyo Olympics. Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Bo
The fact that this year's Olympics are being held in the shadow of an epidemic has had an impact on every team. This signals that clinical play and psychological state may be more critical than ever. Therefore, in this stage where the whole team is fighting to come, the outside world should give more support and encouragement to the players to help them remove the pressure of performance, focus on the game, and show a new generation of "rose" style.
